What's it about?

The modern day version of The Three Stooges, except they’re blue and don’t speak.

What'd I experience?

My sister has been telling me to see Blue Man Group for God knows how long now, so I decided to go check it out. On the way there, we decided to take the train together, and she gave me a bit of insight into what was going to happen. I remember her mentioning how the first couple of rows get ponchos, and I laughed because I didn’t want to watch a show in a poncho.

Fast forward to me sitting in my seat, and can you guess where I was seated? If you guessed the first couple of rows with the ponchos, you were right. I should have known when I got my ticket, but for some reason I read it as P.O.N.C.H.O. (what could that even stand for?) instead of the whole word, poncho. Silly me. At first, I was dreading having it on, but then, I realized that I would experience more of the show. That I was special. Or maybe I just kept telling myself that.

A picture of me overly excited to be in a poncho.

Before the show started, I noticed a tiny screen that kept circulating the same sentences over and over again. I don’t know why I kept rereading it, maybe it was the bright red color of the words that caught my eye, but I did. It got a bit annoying, but then, the show began to start. Nope. They decided to do a few announcements on a similar screen, and the woman in front of me kept reading it out loud. I was just counting the minutes till it was over, and the gif underneath is exactly what I wanted to do to that screen.

The show finally started and the blue men opened with drums. They brought out the paint, and my excitement shot back up. Drums plus splattering paint equals one good time. I thought it was super cool, and the colors looked really vibrant. It was pretty awesome. I wanted to drum a bit to be honest. I imagined myself jumping on stage and just banging the drums a bit, watching the paint splatter and seeing myself covered in paint. Um guys. Excuse me while I just.....*bang drums like crazy*

In their next act, they did a painting through what I think was gumballs. One person threw the gumballs at the other two other members. One of the men was able to create a spiral painting, which looked pretty trippy. The other kept catching gumballs and created a tower. In. His. Mouth. They gave away both, and when I saw them put the tower in a woman’s bag, I was so glad it wasn’t me. I wouldn’t have been laughing. That was cool and all, but totally gross on so many levels.

One of the only other times I was a bit annoyed was the Cap N’ Crunch scene. Cap N’ Crunch is one of my favorite cereals, especially the one with the berries. They were being silly, and one of them even put a handful on his face. It was really cute, but when they brought out the iPhone prop and used an app to amplify their crunching, I was not having it. My seat was way too close to the speakers, and I would cringe each time they crunched.

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They did, however, do a lot of audience participation, which I loved. A part of me wished I got picked, but I sat by the wall. It wasn’t going to happen, and I was honestly kind of glad because the people they picked were perfect. My favorite audience member participation scene had to do with the Twinkies. They picked an old woman who was just so adorable. I couldn’t handle it. She tried so hard to copy the blue men but laughed seconds later. It was so cute.

That cuteness was quickly followed by being splatted with what seemed to be Twinkie bits, but turned out to be some sort of mush that smelled like bananas. Luckily, only a bit landed on my lap and the top of my poncho. Thank you poncho. Friendly advice, wear your least favorite outfit, just in case. I felt like I was taken back in time...

They even had a rock concert. Drums. Strobe lights. Streamers. A screen that taught you some dance moves. Could it get any better? I was definitely raising the roof. I felt like I was transported into the concert world, and I was lovin’ it. The music. The dancing. The combination of theater and music. Now that was pure bliss.

I began to notice something small throughout the show, and I honestly kept my eye out for it. At times, the blue men would break character. It happened fast, for just a few seconds, but they would smile at each other or at the audience. And I can't say that I wasn't secretly wishing they would do that. I didn't expect it, but it was refreshing to see that in all of the seriousness, there were still things that made them so happy they smiled. I honestly couldn't do that myself. Serious Mona? I find the word serious funny, so not a chance. During unexpected or cute moments, they would smile, which made me cheese pretty hard. I have to say that those moments were my favorite part of the entire show.

That and the fact that they were blue men. They were different, unique even, and reminded me so much of the dance crew the Jabbawockeez. Their concept is that it’s a performance as a whole and not as individuals resonates with me. Jess Nguyen, a member of the Jabbawockeez said it best. He said, “Our philosophy is that when you watch us perform, you have to watch us as a whole…When we put [the masks] on, it’s not about who we are or where we came from. We’re all one.”